Courts In Scotland Research Articles

Features of Sheriff Court in Scotland in Early 19th Century (Exemplified by Selkirkshire County)

The article analyzes documents related to the sheriff court in Selkirkshire from 1799 to 1832. It investigates the extent to which legal proceedings were based on legal mechanisms. It is noted that although court materials were not meticulously filled out by the sheriff, Walter Scott, he aimed to adhere to the legal “spirit.” It is pointed out that the sheriff did not exceed the bounds of judicial jurisdiction. The punishments handed down by Walter Scott did not violate legal rules. There is no evidence that the sheriff sought to strengthen his judicial authority. It is suggested that Walter Scott did not use judicial power to cater to the most influential individuals in Selkirkshire, even though he became sheriff at their behest. In the published documents, the most authoritative figures (the third Duke of Buccleuch, the fourth Duke of Buccleuch, the fifth Duke of Buccleuch) are rarely mentioned, and legal cases only involved them in isolated instances. It is revealed that in the early 19th century, there were few individuals with legal education in Selkirkshire. Society did not demand thorough documentation from local judicial institutions, did not train an adequate number of qualified lawyers, and only marginally encouraged its representatives to formalize contracts, while providing the sheriff with insufficient salary.

Expanding emotional capital in court.

This article develops the concept of emotional capital by exposing its operation in proceedings between legal elite professionals. We argue that (a) the micro-structural restraints of the interaction order among the participants have to be accounted for in order to understand the dynamics of emotional capital, and; (b) the emotional processes at play have to be expanded beyond feelings of care showing how emotions can be employed to reproduce status and power. Empirical examples from criminal courts in Scotland and the United States demonstrate that judges and prosecutors depend on emotional capital to steer the legal proceedings. Emotional capital is both stable in that acquired capital often can be transferred across fields and volatile in that it presupposes interactional agreement to ensure successful emotional capital employment. In contrast, the lack of such agreement may devalue emotional capital regardless of overall capital wealth. In high status bureaucratic positions, the conversion of emotional capital into symbolic capital not only affects the authority of individual actors but reproduces public trust in governmental institutions.

WE3.11 Inguinal hernia repair operation; review of the consent and the supported decision-making in the out-patient department

Abstract Introduction In 2015, the ruling of the UK Supreme Court in Scotland in the case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire fundamentally changed the practice of consent. According to the Judges, doctors are no longer the sole arbiter of determining what risks are material to their patients. In this study, the RCS CONSENT: SUPPORTED DECISION-MAKING guide was used to evaluate our practice in regards to consent taking for inguinal hernia repair. Methods OPD letters to GPs were reviewed between 01/01/2019 to 30/12/2019. For risks with its percentages, alternative management exploration with the patient and whether information leaflets supplied to the patients. Results There were 63 patients. 19/63 letters had different options of treatment documented. 37/63 letters showed risks and complications documented and only 4/63 letters had percentages of the risks written. 25/63 patients signed consents in OPD. 0/63 letters indicated a signed consent copy was given to patients. Only 10 patients had been given an information leaflet. Conclusion Overall quality of letters was: 36/63 were poor, 21/63 were average and 5/63 were good. Therefore, to improve our practice leaflets shall be made easily accessible in all clinics. A prompt notification, if consent has been signed when booking a patient. workshops with feedback for middle grades.

Designing mediation for Scottish Civil Courts: Options and opportunity

In this article, the author examines whether the dispute resolution processes proposed in 2019 for civil courts in Scotland are suitable for the context of civil justice in Scotland in 2020 and the future. They are measured according to the policy context, what is known about the purposes of litigation, dispute system design and the needs and cultures of an adversarial civil justice system currently grappling with the impact of coronavirus restrictions.

Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland

Anna of Denmark (1574–1619) had her own household in Scotland in the years 1590–1603 separate from that of the King. Costume accounts shed light on this household and its hierarchy, detailing clothes for servants, gentlemen and gentlewomen. Around twenty-five Danish servants had positions, including her secretary, maidens of honour, cooks and stable men. The dress of her riding entourage of pages, lackeys, gentlewomen and maidens of her chamber offered the most conspicuous opportunity for display. Some costume may have been Danish in fashion or in colours representing Anna’s family. Fashioning a Danish-style court may have been a deliberate choice to emphasise the value of the royal marriage as an international union, strengthening Anna’s identity and promoting her independent agency as a royal person.

(Non)-developments in environmental justice in Scotland

This comment discusses the implementation of a 2011 manifesto commitment by the Scottish National Party to publish an options paper on the creation of an environmental court in Scotland. It critiques the resulting 2016 ‘Developments in environmental justice in Scotland’ consultation and subsequent 2017 ‘analysis and response’ – which decided against creating an environmental court. In particular, it examines the consultation with regard to the access to environmental justice requirements of the Aarhus Convention. Despite repeated findings by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and the Meeting of the Parties that the Scottish legal system is non-compliant with Articles 9(4) and 9(5), the consultation documents mention Scotland’s ‘ongoing compliance’ and dismiss the Compliance Committee as a non-judicial body. The comment argues that the Scottish Government failed to fulfil its manifesto commitment and gave little recognition to the structural problems in accessing environmental justice in Scotland.

Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol in the Court of Justice

Legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament in June 2012 to impose minimum unit pricing for alcohol sold in Scotland as part of a strategy to tackle alcohol-related harm has yet to be implemented pending the outcome of a challenge to its legality under EU law before the Scottish Courts brought by three associations of producers of wines and spirits, namely the Scotch Whisky Association, the Confédération Européenne des Producteurs de Spiritueux and the Comité de la Communauté économique européenne des Industries et du Commerce des Vins, Vins aromatisés, Vins mousseux,Vins de Liqueur et autres Produits de la Vigne. The first instance court in Scotland rejected the challenge in May 2013, but Scotland's appeal court decided in April 2014 that before ruling on the producers’ appeal, it should refer a number of questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”). The CJEU is not expected to rule until late 2015 at the earliest and so the ultimate outcome before the Scottish courts is not likely to be known until 2016.

He Who Pays the Piper: Shifting Scottish Legal Landscapes

AbstractIf Scotland votes ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ how will its relationship change with the remainder of the UK? A ‘yes’ vote will have huge financial, political and legal implications. This article, written by Candace Guite, considers the current role of the UK Supreme Court in Scotland, the recent conflict (to which the title alludes) and it reflects on Scotland's potential international status. The UK Government has argued that it would be regarded as the continuator state and an independent Scotland would be a successor state, and so, in the event of a ‘yes’ vote Scotland would have to re-apply for entry to the European Union and the United Nations. However, there are arguments to support the alternative option, that Scotland could be regarded as a co-equal successor state with England, and thus would retain EU and UN membership.

From intuition to database: Translating justice

The article tells the story of the development of a Sentencing Information System for the High Court in Scotland from its genesis as an exploratory research project to its final implementation in the court. The article uses Actor Network Theory to understand how the database was assembled through the social practices of academic researchers, government officials, judges and court officers. It offers a corrective to theories which exaggerate the de-humanizing effect of information technology and argues that an Actor Network Theory approach is not incompatible with an understanding of how institutionally located power operates through social practices.

Doublethink and District Judges: High Court precedent in the county court

This paper considers an often ignored topic in the English system of precedent, the role of High Court precedent in the county court. In doing so it reveals the many weaknesses of the existing approach to lower court precedent. It is argued that the High Court, (generally) a first instance tribunal, which does not bind itself and can come to contradictory decisions in different cases, the later not overruling the earlier, should not bind any court below it. A model of how multi-tiered first instance tribunals, such as the High Court and county court, should interact is demonstrated by the approach taken between the Court of Session, Outer House, and inferior courts in Scotland.

Lay Criminal Courts in Scotland: The Justifications for, and Origins of, the New JP Court

Lay Criminal Courts in Scotland: The Justifications for, and Origins of, the New JP Court

Public men, private interests: the origins, structure and practice of police courts in Scotland, c.1800–1833

ABSTRACTThis article examines how civic tensions and the rise to prominence of a new class of businessmen contributed to the evolution of police courts in Scottish towns, c.1800 to 1833. It argues that men of property intertwined civic imperatives with their own moral and economic interests in order to effect reform and defend their position, status and influence. It also contends that police courts were important institutions in reflecting and exposing the divisions and shared interests that existed among ‘public men’ and the private interests they sought to promote and safeguard. In doing so, the article highlights social hierarchies – both between men of property and different classes – as an important force in shaping the development and institutional workings of police courts.

Protestations to Parliament for Remeid of Law

The Articles of Union approved by the parliaments of Scotland and England in 1707 provided for the preservation of the private law of Scotland and for the determination of disputes arising north of the border in Scottish courts. At the same time, however, the Articles not only allowed for the amendment of the law by legislation enacted at Westminster but also left open the possibility of appeals being made to the British parliament against decisions delivered in Scottish courts. The Articles did not allow explicitly for appeals, but nor did they prohibit them, and dissatisfied litigants, by exercising the privilege asserted in the Claim of Right to protest for remeid of law against decisions of the lords of council and session, enabled the upper house of the new parliament to substitute its decisions for those delivered by the supreme civil court in Scotland. This much has long been understood by historians of Scots law, as has the significant impact the opinions expressed by English judges in the House of Lords came to have on the development of the modern law. Yet what has never been properly understood is the nature of the protestations for remeid of law from which appeals to the British parliament emerged. Detailed study of these protestations in the years before and immediately following the union reveals that they were conceived of in several different ways and that their nature was never clearly defined. Nevertheless, it also tends to confirm that there is some basis for the common suspicion that appeals were not intended to be made to the House of Lords in the way that they have been.

Denying Responsibility

In Scottish Executive statistics and in this paper, the term ‘community sentence’ is used to refer to probation, community service, supervised attendance, restriction of liberty and drug treatment and testing orders. All Scottish courts, with the exception of the lay District Court, have the power to impose any of these sentences. As in other jurisdictions, the sentencing options available vary with the powers of the different criminal courts. The High Court hears the most serious cases, including all cases of murder and rape, and has no limits on the length of imprisonment or amount of fine. The Judge in the High Court sits alone with a jury of 15. Though Scotland has no established tradition of sentencing guidelines, the High Court does have the power to issue them. In the Sheriff Court, in serious cases—on solemn procedure—the legally qualified Sheriff sits alone with a jury of 15 and can impose sentences of up to three years’ imprisonment and fines of up to £5,000. At the time at which the research was conducted, in less serious cases, in the Sheriff Court on summary procedure and in the Stipendiary Magistrates’ Court (there is only one in Glasgow), sentences of up to three months’ imprisonment, or six months’ for a second or subsequent conviction for violence or dishonesty, and a fine of up to £5,000 could be imposed. The Sheriff and the legally qualified Stipendiary Magistrate sit alone. Last, the District Court—the only lay court in Scotland—hears more minor cases and can impose up to 60 days’ imprisonment or a fine of up to £2,500. There will normally be one Justice of the Peace, although there may be more. At present, the powers and jurisdiction of the summary courts are undergoing change.

The Politicization of Youth Crime in Scotland and the Rise of the ‘Burberry Court’

In 2003, the youth justice system in Scotland entered a new phase with the introduction of a pilot youth court. The processing of persistent 16 and 17 year old (and serious 15 year olds) represented a stark deviation from a ‘child centred’ and needs-oriented state apparatus for dealing with young offenders to one based on deeds and individual responsibility. This article, based on an evaluation funded by the Scottish Executive, is the first to provide a critical appraisal of this youth justice reform. It examines the views of the judiciary and young offenders and reveals that the pilot youth court in Scotland represents a punitive excursion that poses serious concerns for due process, human rights and net widening.

Young and Persistent: Recent Developments in Youth Justice Policy and Practice in Scotland

This paper draws on a Scottish study of young people persistent in their offending to examine recent policy developments aimed at improving the effectiveness of response to youth crime. Developments include: the establishment of national objectives and standards for youth justice; provision of specialist social work and multi-disciplinary youth justice teams; piloting specially resourced fast track hearings; and re-establishing a youth court in Scotland for the first time since 1971. Developments which include proposals to introduce electronic monitoring and community service for those under 16 may be the beginning of a shift away from the traditional and long standing adherence to welfare principles in dealing with young offenders in Scotland.

Muddy Waters: Legislative Competence and the International Criminal Court in Scotland

(2002). Muddy Waters: Legislative Competence and the International Criminal Court in Scotland. Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal: Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 281-290.

Electronic Monitoring of Offenders:

After summarizing the development of electronic monitoring as a penal measure in England and Wales and elsewhere, the article presents the main findings of evaluative research on pilots of restriction of liberty orders with electronic monitoring in three Sheriff Courts in Scotland. The evaluation found that fewer orders were made than the contractors who supplied the equipment had expected, and that it was rare for orders to be completed without some breach of their requirements. Younger offenders, and those with serious criminal records, were less likely to complete orders successfully. Although there was no consensus about the types of offence or offender for whom the orders were most suitable, they were generally imposed on young men for whom the alternative would have been a custodial sentence or another high-tariff community penalty. It was estimated that the orders replaced custody in about 40 per cent of cases, but they would only produce a cost saving if the sentences they replaced were relatively long. Offenders and their families generally welcomed the orders, since they believed them to be alternatives to custody. The policy implications of the research are discussed, in the context of more general reflections on the issues raised by electronic tagging.

Racism, Police, and Courts in Scotland

Racism, Police, and Courts in Scotland

Tree of Strings (Crann nan Teud): A History of the Harp in Scotland

Foreword 1. Myth and Magic: The Harp in Legend and Song 2. Shapes and Stones: The Earliest Archaeological Evidence 3. Clarsach and Cruit: Early Literary References and Nomenclature in Gaelic Areas 4. Harp and Carp: Early Literary References in Non-Gaelic Areas 5. Harps of Their Owne Sorte: Descriptions of Surviving Instruments 6. Fiction and Facts: The History of the Three Old Harps Examined 7. Court and Courtiers: The Harp at the Royal Court in Scotland 8. The Scots Lairds: The Harp in Non-Gaelic Areas 9. Irish Interplay: Irish Travelling Harpers and Musical Connections 10. Highland Harpers: Highland Clans and Their Harping Connections 11. Rory Dall Morrison and His Contemporaries: Three Harpers of the Mid 17th and 18th Centuries 12. The Atholl Connection: Perthshire as a Centre of Harping Activity 13. Fading Echoes: The Decline of the Harp in the Highlands 14. Puirt, Uirt and Orgain: The Music of the Harps 15. Classic Revival: The Harp in 19th-Century Scotland 16. A Harp New-Strung: The Harp in the 20th-Century. Appendices.